Albany Devils go up 2-0 on Utica Comets

Devils score twice on power play to gain upper hand in series

Updated 12:04 am, Sunday, April 24, 2016

Albany Devils' #26 Ben Thomson celebrates his goal against Utica Comets goalie Richard Bachman, right, during Game 2 of their playoff series sat the Times Union Center Saturday April 23, 2016 in Albany, NY. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union) less

Albany Devils' #26 Ben Thomson celebrates his goal against Utica Comets goalie Richard Bachman, right, during Game 2 of their playoff series sat the Times Union Center Saturday April 23, 2016 in Albany, NY. ... more

Albany Devils' #28 Matt Lorito fights through Comets' #37 Andrey Pedan, left, and #34 Carter Bancks, right, during Game 2 of their playoff series sat the Times Union Center Saturday April 23, 2016 in Albany, NY. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union) less

Albany Devils' #28 Matt Lorito fights through Comets' #37 Andrey Pedan, left, and #34 Carter Bancks, right, during Game 2 of their playoff series sat the Times Union Center Saturday April 23, 2016 in Albany, ... more

Albany Devils' #13 Jim O'Brien, left, and Utica Comets' #10 Brendan Gaunce battle it out during Game 2 of their playoff series sat the Times Union Center Saturday April 23, 2016 in Albany, NY. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union) less

Albany Devils' #13 Jim O'Brien, left, and Utica Comets' #10 Brendan Gaunce battle it out during Game 2 of their playoff series sat the Times Union Center Saturday April 23, 2016 in Albany, NY. (John Carl ... more

Albany Devils' #26 Ben Thomson, left, gets past Utica Comets goalie Richard Bachman and defenseman #11 John Negrin to score during Game 2 of their playoff series sat the Times Union Center Saturday April 23, 2016 in Albany, NY. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union) less

Albany Devils' #26 Ben Thomson, left, gets past Utica Comets goalie Richard Bachman and defenseman #11 John Negrin to score during Game 2 of their playoff series sat the Times Union Center Saturday April 23, ... more

Albany Devils goalie Scott Wedgewood stops a shot by Utica Comets' #27 Taylor Fedun during Game 2 of their playoff series sat the Times Union Center Saturday April 23, 2016 in Albany, NY. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union) less

Albany Devils goalie Scott Wedgewood stops a shot by Utica Comets' #27 Taylor Fedun during Game 2 of their playoff series sat the Times Union Center Saturday April 23, 2016 in Albany, NY. (John Carl D'Annibale ... more

Put your fingers in the electrical socket and you're likely to get zapped, which happened Saturday night to the Utica Comets.

With a couple of ill-advised penalties, the Comets tested the Albany Devils' power play, which was fully charged. The Devils scored twice with the man advantage and once short-handed in a four-goal second period to bury the Comets 5-1 in front of 5,104 at Times Union Center.

The Devils lead their best-of-five American Hockey League first-round playoff series 2-0 and can clinch Tuesday in Utica.

"If they're going to run around and take some stupid penalties like that," Devils forward Matt Lorito said, "it's really important that we be able to capitalize on our power play."

Jim O'Brien and Pavel Zacha made the Comets pay for the penalties. The Devils also scored when they had a player in the box to break open a 1-1 game.

The power-play units Albany has put on the ice could help some NHL teams.

"It's like 1A and 1B," Lorito said. "We have a lot of firepower on both units."

Group 1A is Brian O'Neill (last year's AHL MVP), Joseph Blandisi (41 NHL games this season) and Paul Thompson (second in the AHL last year with 33 goals), Mike Sislo (second-team all-AHL this season) and Marc-Andre Gragnani (78 career NHL games).

Group 1B: Lorito (Albany's top scorer), O'Brien (67 career NHL games) and Pavel Zacha (sixth overall pick in last year's draft), Reid Boucher (38 NHL games this season) and Damon Severson (has played past two seasons in the NHL).

"You add some guys like Boucher and Zacha and Severson, that gives us a little boost, whether they've been here or not," Devils coach Rick Kowalsky said. "No question (they are) two real skilled units that can score."

It was a 1-1 game when Steve Zalewski, the former RPI forward in his second year with Utica, created the game's first power play. After having the stick knocked out of his hands by Devils defenseman Seth Helgeson, Zalewski retaliated against another Albany d-man, Vojtech Mozik.

"It's a bad call," said Comets coach Travis Green. "Zalewski gets his stick slashed out of his hand, and the cross-check that he called, you probably can call that every shift of the game. That call in itself changed the whole momentum of the whole game."

O'Brien scored 21 seconds into the power play, then was in the middle of a controversy on Boucher's short-handed goal. He clipped Comets goaltender Richard Bachman as he skated in the slot, but no call was made. O'Brien continued toward the puck and threw it out front, where it bounced in off Boucher's pants.

"I'm not saying it should have been a penalty," Green said, "but it doesn't give him enough time to make a save."

Even Kowalsky admitted, "There's no question that could have gone either way and it was a big play in the game, for sure."

Perhaps to get even, Utica's Travis Ehrhardt gave Devils goalie Scott Wedgewood a snow shower — stopping his skates right in the goal crease — and was given an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

Zacha converted that just 15 seconds into the power play.

"The short-handed one, we catch a break on that," Kowalsky said, "but we really grabbed momentum. Then they come back and take a dumb penalty, snowing the goalie, and we capitalize on that. That sequence of probably less than five minutes allowed us to take over the game."

O'Brien got his second of the game before the period ended, although he missed the final 10 minutes of the third after he crashed into the boards, suffering an apparent shoulder injury.

"He is sore right now," Kowalsky said of O'Brien, who was getting treatment after the game and wasn't available to the media. "We'll see how he is."